Lee Elia named new hitting coach for Mariners

No baseball fans of a certain age will ever forget Lee Elia's tirade against Chicago Cubs fans when he was their manager back in the late 70's. He will forever be remembered for calling them worthless, unemployed, beer-addled bums. While he's not well known to today's fans, he remained active in baseball and was just named the new hitting coach for the Seattle Mariners. He replaces Jeff Pentland who has not been able to get the team out of the basement in on-base percentage and next to last in batting average. In other Mariners' news, the Blue Jays denied having interest in Seattle's newly acquired left hander Erik Bedard. Bedard certainly has not lived up to expectations in Seattle and could be on his way out after only half a season.